LibGuides: Art: Find Visual Reference Sources

Finding Reference Materials

There are a wide variety of materials available at the library that you can reference for drawing. Browse through the links, books, databases, and videos listed below to explore the resources we have to offer!

Artistic Anatomy Books

Browse the catalogue with these subject terms for similar items in our collection:

Anatomy, artistic
Figure drawing
Human figure in art

An Atlas of Animal Anatomy for Artists by W. Ellenberger; Lewis S. Brown (Editor); Helen Weinbaum (Translator); Frances A. Davis
ISBN: 0486200825
Publication Date: 1956-06-01
An Atlas of Anatomy for Artists by Fritz Schider
ISBN: 9780486315652
Publication Date: 2013-06-03
Available online.
The Artist's Guide to Drawing People: 600 Reference Images for Body Movements, Facial Expressions, and Hands by Jean-Pierre Lamérand
ISBN: 1681989115
Publication Date: 2022-08-16
Available online

Scientific Anatomy Books

Find more books like these with this subject:

Human Anatomy -- Atlases

The Atlas of Anatomy by Jean-Marie Le Minor; Henri Sick
ISBN: 3822831298
Publication Date: 2005-09-01
Martini's Atlas of the Human Body for Fundamentals of Anatomy and Physiology (component) by Frederic H. Martini; Judi L. Nath
ISBN: 9780321505972
Publication Date: 2009-10-01

Art Reference Websites

Character Design References
Character Design References (CDR) is an independent website dedicated to sequential, illustrative and concept art from animation, games, and comics. CDR is also the home of the ''Character Design Challenge!'' (CDChallenge), the largest and most active community of character designers on the Internet.
Line of Action
Reference source for figuring drawing, animal drawing, facial expressions, hands, scenes and landscapes.
Quickposes
A library of images of models and poses for students art students and illustrators looking to practice gesture drawing.

[Please use the tabs to navigate between character models and anatomical figures]

Need to draw an anatomical figure or model? The following are available for loan at the Seneca@York Library Borrower Services Desk. All of our models may be used in the library, just ask at the desk for the model of your choice and be prepared with your student number. Instructors may borrow these models for classroom use.

Emma Frost Marvel Legendary Scale Bust
Figure is 33 x 22.9 x 12.7 cm. Full size image. Alternate image.
Ask for it at the Seneca@York Borrower Services Desk.
Hellboy
Figure is 56 x 36 x 31 cm. Full size image. Alternate image.
Ask for it at the Seneca@York Borrower Services Desk.
Hulk Marvel Life-Size Bust
Figure is 50.8 x 48.3 x 36.8 cm. Full size image. Alternate image 1. Alternate image 2.
Ask for it at the Seneca@York Borrower Services Desk.
Prince Namor : the Sub-Mariner Comiquette
Figure is 43 x 32 x 40 cm. Full size image. Alternate image 1. Alternate image 2. Alternate image 3. Alternate image 4.
Ask for it at the Seneca@York Borrower Services Desk.
Superman Life-Size Bust
Figure is 76.2 cm x 50.8 cm x 22.9 cm. Full size image. Alternate image 1. Alternate image 2.
Ask for it at the Seneca@York Borrower Services Desk.
Thor vs Loki (2007)
Figure is 44 x 27 x 36 cm. Full size image. Alternate image 1. Alternate image 2.
Ask for it at the Seneca@York Borrower Services Desk.

[Please use the tabs to navigate between character models and anatomical figures]

Male Anatomy Figure
24” reference figure. Medical quality, hand painted, full-color realism, dimensions: 24"x 5"x10". In addition there is a poster detailing the muscular system of this figure that may be requested.

Ask for it at the Seneca@York Library Borrower Services Desk.
S.F.B.T. Special Fullaction Body Type
Full size image. Alternate image 1. Alternate image 2.

The model moves with perfect freedom. The doll can be set in any position as you like using the 80 joints! Dimensions: 30 x 8 x 5 cm.

Ask for it at the Seneca@York Library Borrower Services Desk.

Skeleton model, flexible, life size, 170cm
1 model : natural cast and metal ; 170 cm. high + 5-casters stand on rollers.

Ask for it at the Seneca@York Borrower Services Desk.

Databases with Images

AdForum This link opens in a new window
(Maydream Inc.) Information on over 20,000 agencies and 150 000 ad campaigns (tv, print, interactive, etc.) from around the world. Also includes information about advertising award winners and jobs in the fields of advertising and design.
Details and Terms of Use
Anatomy.TV This link opens in a new window
(Primal Pictures) A 3D atlas of human anatomy and physiological structures and processes. Click on body parts to get a description of them. Browsable by region of the body or system of the body, or search for a term or use the alphabetical Index. Setting up a separate Anatomy.TV profile is optional.
Details and Terms of Use
Photo Stock Collection This link opens in a new window
(First Light) Provides access to digital photographs from Image Source organized by subjects/themes: Business, Creative, Nature, People, Science, and Travel.
It is acceptable for Seneca users to download images from the collection and incorporate them into their schoolwork or Seneca materials only. Including that schoolwork in a graduates portfolio is also acceptable. However, commercial re-use of the images, be it during or after ones time at Seneca, is not permitted, nor is sharing images with those outside of the college.

Usage of the electronic products is monitored by Seneca Polytechnic, and where incidents are found to be in violation of this agreement, the College will exercise its rights to take appropriate disciplinary action, as set forth in Seneca's Information Technology Acceptable Use Policy.
Details and Terms of Use

Anatomy for Artists: Videos

Beauty of Anatomy, Part 1
In this series, Adam Rutherford looks at the work of second century anatomist of the Roman Empire, Claudius Galen. Galen used first hand experience to describe his anatomical observations in writing so detailed that later Persian translations included illustrations.
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After the fall of Constantiople, classical works influenced Renaissance thinkers and artists like Leonardo da Vinci, who also performed dissections to discover how the human body works. Following Galen's evidence based investigation, Andreas Vesalius performed public dissections in Padua, noting in detailed illustrations and descriptions the human skeleton, muscles, nerves, organ and brain. His illustrations were classically posed before a landscape, showing a body in motion. Vesalius is known as the Founder of Modern Anatomy because of his "De Humani Corporis Fabrica" (The Fabric of the Human Body), that is as artful as it is accurate.
Beauty of Anatomy, Part 2
In Part 2, we explore the relationship of art and anatomical illustration while referring to the artist Rembrandt, the brothers William and John Hunter and Henry Gray, of the well-known Gray's Anatomy.
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As anatomists used dissections to discover the truth about the human body, illustrators worked with them to create anatomically accurate drawings to be used as a teaching tool for medical students and surgeons. Anatomical art also found its way into galleries visited by art patrons in Rembrandt's Amsterdam. We follow the demand for first hand experience from Galen and Vesalius as anatomists leave behind the classical ideal and seek more accurate depictions of what they saw.